bigken117 wrote:I agree. The great ones rise above extreme circumstances. You know he won't use it as an excuse, but if he couldn't concentrate on the field, then he did an injustice to his team. Not that the death of someone close is something that can just slip your mind, but the aforementioned examples of Favre and Clemens, those guys were brilliant in the wake of personal tragedy. They used it as inspiration when they had every right to take a significant amount personal time off.

That's not fair, either. You can't say that since Clemens and Favre rose to the occasion, A-Rod should have as well. Those 2 did and A-Rod didn't. It's not a knock against A-Rod. My entire point was that if you are sound enough emotionally to take the field, leave it at that. If you aren't, then don't play. It's also not right to compare guys that play 1 game against someone playing in 5 straight.

It wasn't meant as a knock agianst him at all (Even though you have to agree he has a way to go before he's on their level). Not trying to be callous about his situation. But if ARod was so distracted that he couldn't perform, and he has every right to be, than he shouldn't have played, because he ended up hurting his team.

It sure as hell isn't Alex Rodriguez, who never said a word about the whole thing, so it wouldn't be an issue.

Frankly, its being an insensitive **** to say what you just said. I'd like to see what you have to say about going to work the next day and for the next two weeks after your father (because that's who he was to Alex) died.

Just because someone else did something superhuman like Favre did gives you no right to expect that of anyone else.

Just sickening.

Get real. If it bothered ARod and distracted him from playing he should have told Torre to have someone play for him. That would have been the most team-oriented thing he could have done.

And no, we aren't being insensitive ****s by saying it's not an excuse. It's horrible it happened, but ARod, knowing it would be a distraction, should have let someone else play.

If anyone wants a good laugh, then read the LVP thread about vlad.

Judging by the responses, you would think losing an animal is worse than losing a uncle.

Nizao Bani, Dominican Republic -- Vlad Guerrero played poorly in the Anaheim Angels American League Championship Series loss in part because he was saddened by the death of his pet dog who he had raised, the slugger's mother said in an interview published in a local newspaper Sunday.

Mrs Vlad said her son kept the Sept. 30 death of his pet to himself because he was committed to helping his team win.

"I think he should speak with the team and tell them that his dog, who was like a brother to him because he raised him since he was a puppy, died in a kennel in Miami," Mrs Vlad told Listin daily newspaper.

Mrs Vlad didn't say what caused the death of the dog.

Guerrero was hitless in Sunday's 6-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox that sent the Angels home for the year, and finished the seven-game series with one RBI and an .050 batting average.

"I know how much he suffered from the death of his pet without being able to do anything, from listening to me crying and not being able to be there," she said, suggesting some Angels fans were being unfair to her son.

"I would like ... for the baseball fans to know that my son is a great human being, that they're seeing a human and not a robot, that he can fail, especially when there are reasons like this," she said.

Mrs Vlad said Guerrero barked with his pet for three hours by phone the day before it died.

"We buried him in Nizao Bani ... [Guerrero] didn't come because of the high sense of responsibility that Vladdie has for his work," she said.

How come the differences in opinions between vlad and arod?? Might have something to do with your hatred of arod???

You use vlads dog dieing as an excuse, but say arods uncle dieing isnt an excuse.[/b]

Nizao Bani, Dominican Republic -- Vlad Guerrero played poorly in the Anaheim Angels American League Championship Series loss in part because he was saddened by the death of his pet dog who he had raised, the slugger's mother said in an interview published in a local newspaper Sunday.

Mrs Vlad said her son kept the Sept. 30 death of his pet to himself because he was committed to helping his team win.

"I think he should speak with the team and tell them that his dog, who was like a brother to him because he raised him since he was a puppy, died in a kennel in Miami," Mrs Vlad told Listin daily newspaper.

Mrs Vlad didn't say what caused the death of the dog.

Guerrero was hitless in Sunday's 6-3 loss to the Chicago White Sox that sent the Angels home for the year, and finished the seven-game series with one RBI and an .050 batting average.

"I know how much he suffered from the death of his pet without being able to do anything, from listening to me crying and not being able to be there," she said, suggesting some Angels fans were being unfair to her son.

"I would like ... for the baseball fans to know that my son is a great human being, that they're seeing a human and not a robot, that he can fail, especially when there are reasons like this," she said.

Mrs Vlad said Guerrero barked with his pet for three hours by phone the day before it died.

"We buried him in Nizao Bani ... [Guerrero] didn't come because of the high sense of responsibility that Vladdie has for his work," she said.

How come the differences in opinions between vlad and arod?? Might have something to do with your hatred of arod???

You use vlads dog dieing as an excuse, but say arods uncle dieing isnt an excuse.[/b]

bigken117 wrote:I agree. The great ones rise above extreme circumstances. You know he won't use it as an excuse, but if he couldn't concentrate on the field, then he did an injustice to his team. Not that the death of someone close is something that can just slip your mind, but the aforementioned examples of Favre and Clemens, those guys were brilliant in the wake of personal tragedy. They used it as inspiration when they had every right to take a significant amount personal time off.

That's not fair, either. You can't say that since Clemens and Favre rose to the occasion, A-Rod should have as well. Those 2 did and A-Rod didn't. It's not a knock against A-Rod. My entire point was that if you are sound enough emotionally to take the field, leave it at that. If you aren't, then don't play. It's also not right to compare guys that play 1 game against someone playing in 5 straight.

It wasn't meant as a knock agianst him at all (Even though you have to agree he has a way to go before he's on their level). Not trying to be callous about his situation. But if ARod was so distracted that he couldn't perform, and he has every right to be, than he shouldn't have played, because he ended up hurting his team.

I agree with you as that is what I have been saying. I just don't like making comparisons between players based on how they did immediately after something terrible. I also don't like comparing 2 HOF'ers at the end of their careers to someone that is still in his prime.